Magazine Needs To Check Facts On BSE
Oct. 10, 2012 4:59am by Amanda Radke in BEEF Daily
A July 2012 report in Consumer Reports Magazine negatively attacks beef
industry.
Just as BPI’s lean finely textured beef was unfairly characterized as “pink
slime” and the H1N1 flu strain was dubbed “swine flu” by the media, the beef
industry has one longer-lived slur. That is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
(BSE) as “mad cow disease.”
The U.S. beef industry has had four cases of BSE -- the latest was
discovered last spring in a California dairy cow, and it never entered the food
supply. The fact is, however, that humans can’t contract the human form of BSE
(Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) from eating meat such as steaks and roasts. BSE in
cattle is found only in central nervous tissue and not in the actual meat of the
animal. And USDA has a complex system of regulatory controls and interlocking
safeguards to prevent the entry of contaminated meat into the food supply.
Still, many consumers are still concerned about how safe their beef is.
Undoubtedly, their concerns probably stem from statements like this one that
appeared in the July 2102 issue of Consumer Reports (CR) magazine:
“We are turning cows into cannibals, the practice that started the mad cow
problem in the first place," says Michael Hansen, senior scientist at CR, on
giving cows feed that contains poultry litter, cattle brains and blood. A cow in
California tested positive for mad cow disease in April.
This quote appeared in CR’s “Viewpoint” section, a page of the magazine
that highlights efforts of the Consumers Union, the policy and action arm of CR
to improve the marketplace.
Thanks to reader Errol Wells of Elba, NE, who brought this article to my
attention. Wells is a firm believer in responding to negative articles in the
media and being a proactive advocate for agriculture.
A Closer Look: Letter From Errol
Upon reading the article, Wells approached CR; however, the magazine has
yet to respond to his concerns about the inflammatory statements made about the
beef industry.
“Despite my repeated demands for retraction of this blatantly false article
and apology to the America’s cattlemen and women, they have not done so.
Hopefully, some of you will take Consumers Reports to task for their false
article. I hope that I am not the only one willing to do battle with them,"
Wells says.
Errol, you certainly aren’t alone in your frustration; I, too, was upset to
see this published in a consumer magazine, so I’ve drafted up my own letter to
send to CR. Here’s what I had to say:
Dear CR Editor:
I was disappointed to see your statements regarding beef safety and BSE in
the July 2012 issue of your magazine. As a cattle rancher and beef lover, I can
assure you that our nation’s beef supply is safe from pasture to plate.
Calling cattle “cannibals” is completely false. Yes, BSE can be spread
through certain cattle feed ingredients, but those have been banned since 1997.
USDA check points, regulatory controls and interlocking safeguards ensure that
even if a case of BSE is detected, there is zero chance of the meat from that
animal ever entering the food supply.
From bseinfo.org, “In 2007, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
classified the U.S. as a controlled risk country in regard to BSE, meaning U.S.
regulatory controls are effective and fresh beef and products from cattle of all
ages is safe.
“For more than 20 years the USDA has been developing and implementing a
robust system of safeguards to ensure a BSE-free food supply. Tissues that could
potentially carry BSE in an animal – including the brain and spinal cord – must
be removed from cattle prior to processing, and therefore are not allowed into
the food supply. This step along with other safeguards ensures BSE has no affect
on public health.
“The U.S. began an active BSE surveillance program in 1990 and, since its
inception, more than 1 million cattle at greatest risk for BSE have been tested.
USDA’s ongoing BSE surveillance program tests approximately 40,000 high-risk
cattle annually. This program is rigorous and exceeds international guidelines
by 10 times.”
I think your readers deserve to hear the facts about BSE and beef safety,
so that they can enjoy a steak without guilt or fear.
Respectfully submitted,
Amanda Radke Beef enthusiast, cattle rancher Mitchell, SD
If you are as frustrated about this report as I and Wells are, write your
own letter and fill out the provided form here to share your concerns with the
magazine. Under "CR Producets/Services," selecte "Consumer Reports magazine" and
click on "Letter to the Editor." Let CR know that we won’t tolerate false
reporting.
THERE IS NO ONE MORE OUT OF TOUCH WITH SCIENCE ON THE BSE TSE PRION DISEASE
THAN BEEF MAGAZINE, when you are going by TSE BSE prion science that is over a
decade old.
let’s look at some recent scientific facts for a change, shall we.
re-Magazine Needs To Check Facts On BSE
r e a l l y ???
MAD COW USDA ATYPICAL L-TYPE BASE BSE, the rest of the story...
***Oral Transmission of L-type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Primate
Model
***Infectivity in skeletal muscle of BASE-infected cattle
***feedstuffs- It also suggests a similar cause or source for atypical BSE
in these countries.
***Also, a link is suspected between atypical BSE and some apparently
sporadic cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
The present study demonstrated successful intraspecies transmission of
H-type BSE to cattle and the distribution and immunolabeling patterns of PrPSc
in the brain of the H-type BSE-challenged cattle. TSE agent virulence can be
minimally defined by oral transmission of different TSE agents (C-type, L-type,
and H-type BSE agents) [59]. Oral transmission studies with H-type BSE infected
cattle have been initiated and are underway to provide information regarding the
extent of similarity in the immunohistochemical and molecular features before
and after transmission.
In addition, the present data will support risk assessments in some
peripheral tissues derived from cattle affected with H-type BSE.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Experimental H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy characterized by
plaques and glial- and stellate-type prion protein deposits
***support risk assessments in some peripheral tissues derived from cattle
affected with H-type BSE
please note, one decade (10 years), post USA mad cow partial and voluntary
mad cow feed ban of August 4, 1997, the USA was still feeding cows to cows, with
some 10,000,000 pounds of banned blood laced meat and bone meal fed out into
commerce in 2007. 2006 was a banner year for mad cow protein into commerce as
well.
please see banned mad cow feed in commerce USA 1997 to 2007 ;
2007
10,000,000+ LBS. of PROHIBITED BANNED MAD COW FEED I.E. BLOOD LACED MBM IN
COMMERCE USA 2007
Date: March 21, 2007 at 2:27 pm PST
RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINES -- CLASS II
PRODUCT
Bulk cattle feed made with recalled Darling's 85% Blood Meal, Flash Dried,
Recall # V-024-2007
CODE
Cattle feed delivered between 01/12/2007 and 01/26/2007
RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER
Pfeiffer, Arno, Inc, Greenbush, WI. by conversation on February 5, 2007.
Firm initiated recall is ongoing.
REASON
Blood meal used to make cattle feed was recalled because it was cross-
contaminated with prohibited bovine meat and bone meal that had been
manufactured on common equipment and labeling did not bear cautionary BSE
statement.
VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE
42,090 lbs.
DISTRIBUTION
WI
___________________________________
PRODUCT
Custom dairy premix products:
MNM ALL PURPOSE Pellet, HILLSIDE/CDL Prot- Buffer Meal, LEE, M.-CLOSE UP PX
Pellet, HIGH DESERT/ GHC LACT Meal, TATARKA, M CUST PROT Meal, SUNRIDGE/CDL
PROTEIN Blend, LOURENZO, K PVM DAIRY Meal, DOUBLE B DAIRY/GHC LAC Mineral, WEST
PIONT/GHC CLOSEUP Mineral, WEST POINT/GHC LACT Meal, JENKS, J/COMPASS PROTEIN
Meal, COPPINI - 8# SPECIAL DAIRY Mix, GULICK, L-LACT Meal (Bulk), TRIPLE J -
PROTEIN/LACTATION, ROCK CREEK/GHC MILK Mineral, BETTENCOURT/GHC S.SIDE MK-MN,
BETTENCOURT #1/GHC MILK MINR, V&C DAIRY/GHC LACT Meal, VEENSTRA, F/GHC LACT
Meal, SMUTNY, A- BYPASS ML W/SMARTA, Recall # V-025-2007
CODE
The firm does not utilize a code - only shipping documentation with
commodity and weights identified.
RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER
Rangen, Inc, Buhl, ID, by letters on February 13 and 14, 2007. Firm
initiated recall is complete.
REASON
Products manufactured from bulk feed containing blood meal that was cross
contaminated with prohibited meat and bone meal and the labeling did not bear
cautionary BSE statement.
VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE
9,997,976 lbs.
DISTRIBUTION
ID and NV
END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR MARCH 21, 2007
please see 2006 and more here ;
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Final Feed Investigation Summary - California BSE Case - July 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
PO-028: Oral transmission of L-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(L-BSE) in primate model Microcebus murinus
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
ARS FLIP FLOPS ON SRM REMOVAL FOR ATYPICAL L-TYPE BASE BSE RISK HUMAN AND
ANIMAL HEALTH
==============================================
Saturday, August 4, 2012
***Final Feed Investigation Summary - California BSE Case - July 2012
=============================================
SUMMARY REPORT CALIFORNIA BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY CASE
INVESTIGATION JULY 2012
Summary Report BSE 2012
Executive Summary
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Update from APHIS Regarding Release of the Final Report on the BSE
Epidemiological Investigation
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Mad Cow Disease, BSE May 2, 2012 IOWA
State University OIE
Friday, May 4, 2012
May 2, 2012: Update from APHIS Regarding a Detection of Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States
CENSORSHIP IS A TERRIBLE THING $$$
Canada has had a COVER-UP policy of mad cow disease since about the 17th
case OR 18th case of mad cow disease. AFTER THAT, all FOIA request were ignored
$$$
THIS proves there is indeed an epidemic of mad cow disease in North
America, and it has been covered up for years and years, if not for decades, and
it’s getting worse $$$
Thursday, February 10, 2011
TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY REPORT UPDATE CANADA FEBRUARY 2011
and how to hide mad cow disease in Canada Current as of: 2011-01-31
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE SIXTEENTH CASE OF BOVINE SPONGIFORM
ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE) IN CANADA
Thursday, August 19, 2010
REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE SEVENTEENTH CASE OF BOVINE SPONGIFORM
ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE) IN CANADA
Friday, March 4, 2011
Alberta dairy cow found with mad cow disease
Reasons for the New Regulation Order No. 23 (as well as amending Order No.
149) of the State Committee for Veterinary Medicine name BSE as the reason for
new import requirement. The legal title for Order No. 23 is "On Urgent Measures
Aimed at Prevention and Elimination of BSE and Other Prion Infections in
Cattle”. Neither Order explains how the threat of introduction of BSE can be
addressed through the inspection of producers of all products of animal origin
including fish, dairy products, poultry and pork. It is not clear what other
concerns are addressed through the proposed inspections. Formal Notification of
Trading Partners On August 3rd, Ukraine's Notification and Enquiry Point issued
a legal Notification G/SPS/N/UKR/3/Rev.1 found on the Official WTO Website
(Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures)
P.4.23
Transmission of atypical BSE in humanized mouse models
Liuting Qing1, Wenquan Zou1, Cristina Casalone2, Martin Groschup3, Miroslaw
Polak4, Maria Caramelli2, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Juergen Richt5, Qingzhong Kong1
1Case Western Reserve University, USA; 2Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale,
Italy; 3Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Germany; 4National Veterinary Research
Institute, Poland; 5Kansas State University (Previously at USDA National Animal
Disease Center), USA
Background: Classical BSE is a world-wide prion disease in cattle, and the
classical BSE strain (BSE-C) has led to over 200 cases of clinical human
infection (variant CJD). Atypical BSE cases have been discovered in three
continents since 2004; they include the L-type (also named BASE), the H-type,
and the first reported case of naturally occurring BSE with mutated bovine PRNP
(termed BSE-M). The public health risks posed by atypical BSE were largely
undefined.
Objectives: To investigate these atypical BSE types in terms of their
transmissibility and phenotypes in humanized mice. Methods: Transgenic mice
expressing human PrP were inoculated with several classical (C-type) and
atypical (L-, H-, or Mtype) BSE isolates, and the transmission rate, incubation
time, characteristics and distribution of PrPSc, symptoms, and histopathology
were or will be examined and compared.
Results: Sixty percent of BASE-inoculated humanized mice became infected
with minimal spongiosis and an average incubation time of 20-22 months, whereas
only one of the C-type BSE-inoculated mice developed prion disease after more
than 2 years. Protease-resistant PrPSc in BASE-infected humanized Tg mouse
brains was biochemically different from bovine BASE or sCJD. PrPSc was also
detected in the spleen of 22% of BASE-infected humanized mice, but not in those
infected with sCJD. Secondary transmission of BASE in the humanized mice led to
a small reduction in incubation time.*** The atypical BSE-H strain is also
transmissible with distinct phenotypes in the humanized mice, but no BSE-M
transmission has been observed so far.
Discussion: Our results demonstrate that BASE is more virulent than
classical BSE, has a lymphotropic phenotype, and displays a modest transmission
barrier in our humanized mice. BSE-H is also transmissible in our humanized Tg
mice. The possibility of more than two atypical BSE strains will be discussed.
Supported by NINDS NS052319, NIA AG14359, and NIH AI 77774.
P26 TRANSMISSION OF ATYPICAL BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE) IN
HUMANIZED MOUSE MODELS
Liuting Qing1, Fusong Chen1, Michael Payne1, Wenquan Zou1, Cristina
Casalone2, Martin Groschup3, Miroslaw Polak4, Maria Caramelli2, Pierluigi
Gambetti1, Juergen Richt5*, and Qingzhong Kong1 1Department of Pathology, Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA; 2CEA, Istituto
Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, Italy; 3Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Germany;
4National Veterinary Research Institute, Poland; 5Kansas State University,
Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology Department, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. *Previous
address: USDA National Animal Disease Center, Ames, IA 50010, USA
Classical BSE is a world-wide prion disease in cattle, and the classical
BSE strain (BSE-C) has led to over 200 cases of clinical human infection
(variant CJD). Two atypical BSE strains, BSE-L (also named BASE) and BSE-H, have
been discovered in three continents since 2004. The first case of naturally
occurring BSE with mutated bovine PrP gene (termed BSE-M) was also found in 2006
in the USA. The transmissibility and phenotypes of these atypical BSE
strains/isolates in humans were unknown. We have inoculated humanized transgenic
mice with classical and atypical BSE strains (BSE-C, BSE-L, BSE-H) and the BSE-M
isolate. We have found that the atypical BSE-L strain is much more virulent than
the classical BSE-C.*** The atypical BSE-H strain is also transmissible in the
humanized transgenic mice with distinct phenotype, but no transmission has been
observed for the BSE-M isolate so far.
III International Symposium on THE NEW PRION BIOLOGY: BASIC SCIENCE,
DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY 2 - 4 APRIL 2009, VENEZIA (ITALY)
I ask Professor Kong ;
Thursday, December 04, 2008 3:37 PM Subject: RE: re--Chronic Wating Disease
(CWD) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathies (BSE): Public Health Risk
Assessment
''IS the h-BSE more virulent than typical BSE as well, or the same as cBSE,
or less virulent than cBSE? just curious.....''
Professor Kong reply ;
.....snip
''As to the H-BSE, we do not have sufficient data to say one way or
another, but we have found that H-BSE can infect humans. I hope we could publish
these data once the study is complete. Thanks for your interest.''
Best regards,
Qingzhong Kong, PhD Associate Professor Department of Pathology Case
Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 44106 USA
END...TSS
Thursday, December 04, 2008 2:37 PM
"we have found that H-BSE can infect humans."
personal communication with Professor Kong. ...TSS
BSE-H is also transmissible in our humanized Tg mice.
The possibility of more than two atypical BSE strains will be discussed.
Supported by NINDS NS052319, NIA AG14359, and NIH AI 77774.
2011 Monday, September 26, 2011
L-BSE BASE prion and atypical sporadic CJD
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease Human TSE report update North America, Canada,
Mexico, and USDA PRION UNIT as of May 18, 2012
type determination pending Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (tdpCJD), is on the
rise in Canada and the USA
Friday, August 24, 2012
Iatrogenic prion diseases in humans: an update
Monday, July 23, 2012
The National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center July 2012
let's take a closer look at this new prionpathy or prionopathy, and then
let's look at the g-h-BSEalabama mad cow.
see all this and much more updated science on the TSE prion disease here ;
Saturday, October 6, 2012
TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM
ENCEPHALOPATHIES 2011 Annual Report
like I said, THERE IS NO ONE MORE OUT OF TOUCH WITH SCIENCE ON THE BSE TSE
PRION DISEASE THAN BEEF MAGAZINE, when you are going by TSE BSE prion science
that is over a decade old. ...
my opinion as layperson. ...
TSS
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